Merman In Wonderland
by TheKnuckleDuster876
Summary: A merman named Alex on the run from greedy humans falls down the rabbit hole and into the whimsical world of Wonderland. Will he survive this strange world or is he actually meant to be there? Read to find out!
1. Chapter 1

AN: I started this on ArchiveofOurOwn and am now posting it here as well. Betcha no one's done this before? ;) Read and Review please!

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"Don't let him get away!" The hunters called through the night in the woods surrounding a village by the sea. A young man ran as fast as his legs could carry him as he could hear their calls not too far behind him. Alex wasn't easily spooked, but right now more than ever he was terrified.

"Of all the things to happen, It had to be this." he thought bitterly as he tried his best to keep pace on these legs of his. As if on cue to his negative thoughts, the night sky above him began to rumble. He looked up with wide eyes, still not stopping his strides as he trudged through the trees. He tried to pick up pace but he already could feel a few tiny droplets on his skin as the sky was about to pour.

"Keep going! You can't change now! Not now!" his mind urged him faster. Now the tiny droplets of water were becoming thicker and thicker until finally it was a full on downpour.

"No no no no!" he couldn't help but exclaim as it was already happening. Unable to keep balance, he tripped and fell straight down into the mud below with a grunt. Alex quickly sat up on his elbows and looked at his legs behind him. He already knew what he would see but that didn't stop him from almost screaming in fear. His two legs, once dry was now one teal fishtail covered in the wet gray mud. Normally his tail was a part of him that would have great advantages in the water. However, he wasn't anywhere near the ocean right now and a fishtail on land would have him immobilized. The worst part was that he was stuck in this muddy mess and the mermaid hunters were after him and gaining on his location fast.

Yes, Alex is what you would call a merman. It was just but a few hours ago, that he finally told her about his secret. A secret he's had to deal with for only two years now. Up until then, he was human. Or so he thought, but soon after his sixteenth birthday passed he started noticing changes that were by no means normal. It wasn't until he fell into the ocean one day that his tail took shape. Knowing he was found on the beach as a baby and adopted, it finally made sense to him why he always longed for the ocean. It took a little while, but Alex eventually did accept his true nature- he wanted to live in both worlds though so a year later when he was seventeen, he decided to leave his foster parents for a job in a fishing village far away.  
He left his hometown and hasn't looked back since. He realized that he would have to keep his origins a secret of course. It was common knowledge that mers fetched a high price on the black market. When he moved into the village, he mostly kept to himself- but one lady who would often come to the docks did catch his eye. The lady Charlotte was the most beautiful woman in town, but she was also one of the most deceiving. Having several affairs with many men outside of her arranged marriage. Lady Charlotte knew how to get the most out of her courters with very little effort.

Alex was an attractive man and women would flirt with him every now and then. But of course, Lady Charlotte wanted him to herself after spotting him in the tavern after a long day's work. So, she picked him to be her lucky man of the night, and the next night, and the next. Soon his heart fell victim to lady Charlotte and he naively wanted to tell her what he was since she seemed to be the only woman who would care so much for him.

Things didn't go as planned... When Charlotte saw him step into the bathtub and transform in front of her, needless to say- she was shocked. But instead of immediately running away screaming- she conjured a fake smile and told him she understood kissing him passionately. Charlotte waited until later that afternoon to discreetly inform the local hunters about a merman living in the town and exactly who he is, expecting to claim a reward for him.

They came for him that night, Alex was surprised to see the hunters with their torches lit coming straight towards his home- then when he saw Charlotte sitting on her horse behind them, pointing with a vindictive smile on her face. He immediately knew why they were there.

He bolted out the back door, and into the nearby woods to try to escape.

Alex desperately looked around to see if there was some way he could possibly hide from their approach. He obviously couldn't run anymore with his tail out, He looked up startled when he heard a branch snap and white dash went by him. He looked around again but couldn't see too well in the dark. A flash of light from the sky briefly revealed a white rabbit standing on two feet next to a burrow in a large oak tree.

"Don't let him get away!" Charlotte's voice called nearby. "He couldn't of gotten too far now that it's raining!"

Alex looked towards the burrow again, the rabbit was gone. He knew this might be his only chance to escape. Hastily, he did his best to crawl towards the hole in the ground, the mud was slippery beneath him and it was quite difficult to drag himself forward. But still he pushed and pulled himself. Closer and closer until finally he made it to the edge. He could hear the hoofsteps of Charlotte's horse dangerously close by- with one last push- he slipped himself into the hole and before he knew it, he was falling deep into an underground abyss.


	2. Chapter 2

Falling falling and falling, Alex had his eyes shut bracing for an impact but it never seem to come.

Confused, his sea green eyes shot open just in time to see the tiny bit of moonlight from the ground surface become nothing more than a mere speck above.

 _"Just how deep is this hole?"_ the merman worriedly thought.

Suddenly, the air seemed to get lighter and his momentum slowed. Before he knew it, Alex was floating horizontally in the thin air, as if it were water.

"Huh?" he questioned out loud. Turning to face downward, he could make out a little bit of dim light below him. Hesitantly, he kicked his tail to move and quickly found that this anti-gravity air was a lot like swimming in the water. He propelled himself downwards to find that there were torches hanging around that illuminated this strange cavern he was in.

"Weird…" he said incredulously. Upon going further down, the earthy walls melded into bricks and he found all sorts of random objects floating around him. Broken toys, an umbrella, old maps and random furniture. Alex wasn't sure what was going on at all. "How is this possible?" he questioned outloud. As soon as he had that thought, gravity turned on again, as if to punish him for thinking such things. The merman yelped in surprise as he was falling straight down again- in his desperation, his hands reached out to an object nearby and happened to catch a pair of green draperies hanging off the brick wall. He grunted as he grabbed it and held on to it for dear life. He was thankful that his arms were very strong, as most mermen's naturally are and he was able to hold his weight as he hung off of the drapes. Just as he sighed in relief, a tearing sound was heard and he looked up in horror as the drapes tore off the wall. Again he fell with the fabric still in his hands- but this time it wasn't that long a fall and he hit the floor hard.

"Ugh." He groaned as he made impact. After taking a second to recover, he finally sat up tangled in the teared draperies that came with him. Looking to his left he came face to face with a mirror- he quickly noticed that he was caked with mud all over him- the white shirt he was wearing was filthy, as for his pants- well he knew they tore up in the rain when he transformed so they were long gone now. While he was still wet in some places, the air from falling had dried most of him, including his tail- he inhaled a sharp breath as he felt what was coming. His tail split into two legs and he had transformed back to his human form. The first time this happened it was pretty painful, but as time went on he got used to it and it's only a minor discomfort now whenever he transforms from tail to legs and vice versa.

Standing up he immediately noticed a dilemma, his pants were gone- he was now naked from the waist down. He frowned, but noticed the green drapes on the floor. He grinned with an idea to fix this problem. Taking the drapes, he tied it around his waist as a long skirt with a bit of a train in the back, then he took the longer back of the makeshift-skirt and brought it up between his legs tucking it into the waist- voila! Now he was wearing short pants made out of the green drapes. They were baggy in some places but it certainly did the trick.

Now fully clothed, he decided to take a look at his surroundings. Stepping out from what appeared to be a chimney he just fell from, his expression grew even more confused- the floor was black and white checkered tiles that led down to a striped hallway. Out of the corner of his eye, he saw the same white rabbit from earlier dash around the corner. "Wait!" He called out to it, not knowing if it could even understand him, he had a feeling this rabbit was apart of the reason why he fell into this place- so he needed to find out for himself.

Running down the hall, he turned another corner and stopped at a dead end. The quick slam of a door nearby was heard and he turned to find a door right next to him.

Reaching for the nob, he was surprised to see that it only led to another smaller door in the wall. Opening that one led to and even smaller one, and that one to an even smaller one, finally the door became a tiny door only a doll could fit through. When he tried to open that one, it was locked…

 _"Well then…"_ he thought bitterly, he sighed and sat backwards, putting his forehead in his palm, trying to think of a way to get through.

"Oh ho ho! Having a little trouble are we?" a high pitched female voice said near him. He quickly turned around, but didn't see anyone there. "Who's there?" he called.

"Down here!" said the voice again. Alex turned back and looked down to the source of the voice- the decorative female-face of a door knocker on that tiny door was speaking to him.

"Whoa!" he jumped back in surprise

"Oh don't be afraid darling, I'm simply the keeper of this door. Do you need to get in?" the object said.

"Oh…uhh, yes. I do, can you let me in?" Alex replied warily.

"No can do. You don't fit!" she laughed back.

"What? But I need to find that white rabbit that just went through! How do I unlock you?" Alex asked with a bit of urgency in his voice.

"Simply use the bottle."

"Bottle?"

Alex turned around and saw that the room suddenly changed into a kitchen behind him, there was a stove, a sink, and all sorts of spice bottles on a shelf above it. In the center of the room, was a small round table with a bottle labeled, _"Drink me"_ on it. Alex took the bottle and sniffed it's contents, it didn't smell like poison. He looked at the door knocker skeptically as he held it.

"Go on" She encouraged.

Swallowing nervously, he uncapped the bottle and took a sip of it's contents.

Almost immediately, the room got bigger around him and his body and clothes shrunk down with him till he was about the size of a doll.

"Wow." he said, his voice a bit higher in pitch.

Walking over, he tried the tiny door again, but it was still locked. The door knocker laughed, sounding a lot louder and more obnoxious than she did before.

"Oh silly boy- you need the key! Did you forget it? It's right there on the table!"

Alex quickly turned and saw the key magically appear on the giant table above him, but now he's the size of a doll- he couldn't possibly get up there to get it.

"What?! There wasn't a key before! How am I gonna get to it now!" he said as he was attempting to climb the table anyways.

"You can use the box." the knocker replied. Instantly a box melted up out of the ground next to his bare feet.

Alex opened it to find cookies labeled " _Eat Me"_ on them. He sighed, and couldn't help but feel like the knocker was getting enjoyment out of this.

Taking one, he finally bit into it. The room then got smaller and his body enlarged up until is head hit the ceiling. Upon the kitchen space getting more cramped, his giant foot knocked over one of the spice bottles on the shelf. The bottle labeled " _Crying juice"_ broke on the floor and the smell of chopped onions quickly filled the entire room, and boy was it strong.

"Oh man!" He covered his nose as his eyes started watering. Alex chopped onions before, but never before had he smelled something so pungent in his life! The smell made his eyes cry like never before. He sniffled and tried to wipe his giant tears away but in doing so only made puddles of water on the floor. His teardrops were so big that it was starting to flood the room.

"Hey! Calm down won't you?" the door knocked scolded as she was getting splashed with the tears.

"I …can't stop crying!" Alex exclaimed as the tears kept pouring out like a waterfall. Soon enough he was sitting in a large puddle of his own tears and already he could feel his legs start to shift.

"Oh no!" he cried in alarm, tears still pouring down his face and rising the water below him. The green drapes he was wearing quickly gave way to his tail. As soon as he transformed, the room became even more cramped, with his giant green fins pressing against the wall and the water still rising.

"Use the bottle! Quickly!" he heard the knocker say just before she went under the water level.

He spotted it floating next to him since it got knocked off the table, grabbing it with two fingers, he tipped it to his mouth swallowing what was left in it. His mer-form shrunk back inwards with him still holding the bottle, he dropped it as it got bigger than he was and it splashed and filled halfway with the water below. Alex's form dropped straight into the bottle below him and his tears finally stopped. The half-filled bottle containing Alex was now in a current of sorts being carried away into the open keyhole of the tiny door. Only one thought went through the merman's mind as he was being swept away into the next area of this strange place.

" _I wish that onion smell didn't make me cry so much.."_


	3. Chapter 3

The current of 'merman tears' carried Alex through another area of this strange world and before he knew it, he could see what appeared to be a purple sky out of the top of the tiny bottle containing him. Alex tried to swim up to the top of the bottle, but it was only halfway filled with water so he couldn't quite reach the rim with just his arms length alone, finally he kicked his tail hard enough for him to jump up just enough for him to reach it.

His fingers grasped the edge of the bottle's top and he grunted a bit as he climbed up halfway and peeked his head out. The merman blinked in even more confusion. He was floating in a vast ocean. The sound of whistling caught his ears and he looked in the distance to see something approaching. At first, he wondered if it were a ship but upon the object floating closer he saw it was a large bird floating on the feet of another black bird, which was being pushed by another white bird.

"Ok. That's not normal?" he thought outloud.

Upon that thought a huge wave crashed into the bottle, tumbling it over a few times and making Alex lose his grip and slip back inside. It filled with even more water as it floated upright again. Alex shook his head dazed and now was able to pull his torso out of the top of the bottle without having to try to jump to the rim again.

"Ahoy! A fellow mer-mate!" he heard a voice say near him. It came from the dodo bird floating nearby.

"Hello!" Alex called back, going with it.

"Can you help me?" he asked.

However the dodo wasn't even listening, as he already passed Alex and pointed to land that the waves were taking him to.

"Wait!" he called again. Another wave sent him toppling over and he was this time flung out of the bottle and on to the shore. Alex was surprised to hit the sand and didn't notice how shallow the water suddenly got. He was able to sit up and looked up again to see the dodo bird perched on a rock with a fire burning next to it as the waves crashed upon the bottom of the rock.

"My my." the dodo said, "What's a fish like you doing sitting on the shore like that? You'll never get dry if you don't move away from these waves."

"Uhh, yes I kno-" Alex started but he was cut off by another wave crashing into him. This time it worked in his favor as he was carried further onto the dry land. Alex breathed in again and coughed a bit as his gills have been in and out of the air for a while now. Alex sat up and once again spotted the white rabbit sitting right next to him.

"Hey!" he exclaimed. "I was looking for you rabbit! Can you tell me where I am?"

The rabbit merely laughed. "I have no time to chat young mer. I'm very late!"

With that it dashed off again into nearby woods that were just a few feet away from the shore.

"No! Wait! Come back!" Alex desperately called reaching his hand out. He wished so badly that he could run after it, but his tail proved to be useless yet again on the land.

 _"I need to change back"_ He thought with his fins flicking in irritation at his inconvenient situation.

Just as he was about to crawl further on to the shore, a yelp escaped him as something heavy pinched onto one of his fins.

"Hey! I think I stepped on something Dee."

Alex looked behind him to the source of the uncomfortable pain, a foot was stepping on his fin, and it was not moving either.

"Please get off my fin!" Alex finally yelled at the offending person above him. In doing so the foot finally lifted him and allowed him to pull his tail closer to him in protection.

"Oh, sorry." the short person named Dee said as he realized what he stepped on. Alex turned over and glared at not one but two short round boys looking down at him. From the looks of their features they appeared to be twins.

"Oi, look what you done now Dee. You made 'em angry."

"Not on purpose Dum, jus' look at that tail of his though. Very pretty."

Alex's eyes widened as he realized that while these boys were a bit odd looking, they still had two legs- which made them human. He shrunk back a bit in fear that they might hunt him or worse. His reaction did not go unnoticed by the twins.

"ey ey!" one of them said "Why you acting like that? We ain't gonna hurt you."

"You…aren't?" the merman questioned wearily.

"Pssh of course not." the other twin giggled.

"We got better things to do than to hurt anyone. Besides only the queen can do that."

Alex furrowed his brows. "Queen? You have a Queen here?"

The two boys immediately shushed him before he could say anymore.

"Keep your voice down! She got ears everywhere ya know?"

"Uhh yes, we love her majesty queen of hearts!" Dee said loudly as if someone were listening to their conversation.

Dum leaned in to Alex and whispered, "why don't you come with us- you were looking for the white rabbit no?"

Alex nodded but motioned to his tail. "I'd love to, but I'll need your help getting dry so I can walk again."

"We can help with that."

Without any warning Dee and Dum Hoisted Alex into their arms. He wrapped his arms around their shoulders for support while they had him sitting in their arms like a seat.

"You're heavy mate." Dum complained as they walked.

The two took several steps into the woods before finally they reached a large tree hollow. The twins placed the merman on a nearby stump and instructed him to wait while they fetch him some clothing from inside the tree.

Alex shrugged and nodded, not much else he could do anyways. Dee threw a blanket to him so he can dry off what was left of the water on his tail. Alex gave the twins a look of gratitude as he began to rub his tail dry. Only a few moments later did he transform back into his legs. Dum gave him a pair of blue trousers, black shoes and a new white shirt since the one he had been wearing was still soaked and filthy.

Alex stood up as he changed into his new attire. He could feel that Dee and Dum were staring at him intensely and whispering to each other as he was doing so.

"Thank you for the clothing." he said politely. "Out of curiosity, I have to ask, why are you helping me?"

Dee and Dum looked around anxiously before answering softly.

"We've seen a mer like you before in these parts. It's quite odd actually. But we feel that you might know how to stop her."

"Stop? Stop who from what?" he asked incredulously.

"That's all we can tell you right now."

Alex raised a brow. "Ok…But wait, another mer like me? Can you tell me what they looked like? I actually haven't met one before."

"We cannot tell you any more. Now get out of our sight!" The twins shoved him along the path going deeper into the woods.

"Ok ok!" Alex didn't try to argue, they done enough for him already.

"Bye Fish-boy!" They called out in unison and waved goodbye.

"I have a name you know! He called back, It's Alex…"

He almost didn't finish his sentence as he looked back and noticed the scenery had changed again.

The tree hollow was gone, the twins were nowhere to be seen. There was nothing but darkness going that way.

Alex sighed. He was starting not to get as surprised anymore with each new thing that did not make any sense. The young mer continued to follow the path into the woods as he walked towards another new area of this peculiar world he was in.


End file.
